The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) is launching a carbon-offsetting programme to accelerate the air cargo industry's sustainability goals.

The Climate Action Platform — which will go live in the coming days — will support smaller companies to invest in reducing their climate impact.

TIACA said the platform enables individuals and companies to support a number of leading standards-certified projects around the world, which contributes to global carbon avoidance and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN’s SDGs).

Each investment generates a verified carbon contribution.

The platform — powered by the Climate Company and a TIACA member South Pole — is funding critical climate projects across key areas of sustainability, including nature-based solutions, renewable energy, and improved community and living conditions.

It will provide companies with an initial portfolio of six carbon-offsetting projects.

"We are proud to offer this new service to the air cargo industry as it allows individual companies to take action today and invest in climate projects without having to go through the lengthy process of identifying and selecting high-quality, verified, and impactful climate projects themselves," said Steven Polmans, chair of TIACA.

The announcement said the platform is open access — including to non-members of TIACA — and will give users access to detailed project information about different technologies and certification standards, help educate the air cargo industry on funding climate action, and reduce barriers to carbon credit procurement.

Investment levels are determined by the user, starting from very low increments.

TIACA's annual sustainability survey

Based on the results of TIACA's Fourth Sustainability Report, while 71% of respondents have a sustainability strategy, this number hides notable differences between large (92%) and small companies (46%). The number stood at 56% for medium companies.

It also found that 45% of companies produce a sustainability report, but this is made up of 70% of large companies, 21% of medium companies and only 17% of small firms.

"Two of the key outcomes of the various TIACA annual sustainability surveys performed were the request for support and guidance as to where companies need to focus on improving their sustainability profile as well as how they can gain access to carbon contribution programs," said Glyn Hughes, director-general at TIACA.

"The TIACA BlueSky program, entering its second year, has already helped many small, medium, and large companies get a better understanding of where they are along their journey of sustainable transformation, and now with the launch of this new platform, we can provide access to environmental improvement projects which will help in the global fight to addressing climate change," he added.